But Australia is really, really, far away and mostly desert (poor acoustics), so In a couple of years, the twenty-one year old producer has garnered hugeĬritical following and generally large portions of goodwill from almost anyone who listens to modern music. One in the Australian iTunes charts - only to be beaten by One Direction in the physical sales charts (them's the breaks). Three originals and one remix of his made it into the coveted Triple J Hottest 100 of 2012 and his first self titled LP debuted at number Flume adds some distortion after the intro which transforms the piece into a more electronic-sounding one towards the middle, and then the main lyrics come in, followed by a beat that makes this song into the dynamic house piece that it is.In Australia, Harley Streten (Flume) is a pretty big deal. It sounds ethereal and majestic as the name implies.

Starting off with birds chirping and a piano playing quiet chords underneath, and a single voice singing over top, this piece is a truly fantastic ending to a wonderful album.

The last song on the album is the title track, “Palaces,” featuring Damon Albarn. Metallic and asymmetrical, they complement the vocals amazingly. Contrasting this lighter sound are heavy synths in Flume’s characteristic techno style. The structure of the song is precise, and each section is easy to distinguish, but the song ends with a build that develops very smoothly from the first few sections.Īfter “Love Light” is a beautiful and ethereal-sounding song featuring Caroline Polachek called “Sirens.” The vocals sound like taking a choir and condensing it into one voice. The whole piece is really mellow and vibey. Later track “Love Light” starts with a sample of some vocals and plays around with two main themes in the music. There are strings in the background, and it almost sounds like listening to an old radio where the station is being tuned a bit for clarity, in a good way. Although it is not completely acoustic, this track starts with a piano playing arpeggiated chords, but the song is distinguished by some distortion to the pitch. If one is looking for something poetic-sounding and beautiful, “Jasper’s Song” works perfectly. “Get U” seems to have more of an experimental rhythmic style, starting with almost complete asymmetry rhythms that are difficult to follow or define, but it soon morphs into a pretty organized set of sounds, adding some background synths and slight vocals for a nostalgic end to the song. It’s sort of pop-y, but also works great for people who prefer their music a bit more intense. This song is an instrumental, but it still makes for a great jam.įor a bit of a musical pivot, the next song on the album, “I Can’t Tell,” which features LAUREL is a wistful house-sounding track at the beginning with some heavy rhythmic synths afterward.

The asymmetric rhythms add depth to the son, and are fun to listen to. The synths used are mesmerizing, rippling like waves across the song. “DHLC” brings a minimalistic techno style to house vibes. The lyrics are quite sad, seemingly about following someone to a certain level of trust who ultimately could not be trusted. The first track, “Highest Building,” featuring Oklou, is a sweet-sounding, moderately slow song with some metallic effects and an airy timbre on the vocals.

Flume album